This invention relates to drive apparatus for a conveyor, and particularly to apparatus for coordinating indexing movement of the conveyor with pivoting of a kickout arm adjacent the delivery end thereof.
In the hot dip galvanizing of pipe, pipe are removed one at a time from a pot of molten zinc and then placed laterally on a transfer conveyor. The conveyor transports them by rolling movement at a prescribed rate to a steam blowout station of removing excess spelter from their interior surface. In the past a walking beam conveyor has been used, but at high production rates, was erratic and did not consistently align the pipes properly at the blowout station. This resulted in the steam blowout nozzles missing the pipe and thus resulting in rejections due to excess spelter. Also, the cylinder operated kickout for removing the pipe from the blowout station did not return fast enough to its neutral position. Consequently, pipe would become lodged between the kickout arm and blowout station saddle. When this occurred, the pipe had to be removed manually, causing a shutdown and loss of production as well as reject material.
An example of a steam blowout station and conveying apparatus is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,893,348. Coordinating article transfer from one conveyor to another is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,587,823 Hartz. Neither reference discloses apparatus providing positive indexing movement of a conveyor and coordinating that movement with a pivotal kickout. It is therefore a primary object of this invention to provide apparatus for accomplishing this latter function and overcoming the disadvantages above recited.